An Orange Holiday
by liliduh
Summary: An attempt to see the Holidays with the eyes of the Leaf's loudest (and loneliest) ninja. Late, I know. Happy Holidays, everyone!


**A/N:** Here's my fic. It sucks. Period. Crapply title, crappy story. It was around 3am when I started this, so please forgive me for any errors. I'm so not in the mood to proof read this thing. :x Of course, I only used thirty minutes of my time to do this last night, and continued it in the afternoon. And then random times of the days after Christmas. Happy Holidays, everyone.

**Edit xP: **Wth. 12 hours after posting this and I can't find it online. Reuploaded.

Disclaimer: insert funny statement about not owning Naruto

**An Orange Holiday  
Chapter One  
2:49AM  
**

It was Christmas Eve for Kohona's number one loudest ninja. The snow was coming down hard, and he could tell that it wasn't going to stop for a long time. Neighbors were probably having the time of their lives, adults conversing about social lives and children watching the clocks reach the awaited 12:00am. All jounins and chuunins that weren't on missions were probably out drinking with fellow comrades. Maybe the ANBU, too. Old lady Hokage was probably drinking to her delight with her so called "egg nog" while that perverted hermit was probably drinking with her. All his peers were probably with families, celebrating the holidays among themselves and or friends. Everyone was probably living the phrase " Most wonderful time of the year".

But not this ninja.

For he was alone in his messy apartment, warming up a cup of instant chicken noodles. He was glad that he had a heater inside, otherwise he'd have to be at someone else's house for the season. Though at the moment, thrashing that heater would give him a good excuse to be near someone for this time of the year. Looking out the window, he sighed and put his head on top of the microwave that was currently heating his noodles on his lap. It was a rather small thing, when considering the amount of money he earned from god knows what.

He was hoping for a mission on Christmas day so that he could see his teammates. However, he found out that Kakashi sensei had a soft spot for family and friends and actually gave them the week off, leaving Naruto with the dilemma of when to give gifts. Unbeknownst to everyone in the village, this ninja was rather shy when it came to special get togethers. Actually,he was beyond the point of being sheepish, he was down right afraid. Years of emotional turmoil played in his mind when he used to go house to house with home treats that he himself made. Each and every person slammed the door on him, and Hokage and Iruka sensei weren't there at the time. Would his team mates, new found friends, and senseis not acknowledge him this time of year too?

Soon after meeting Iruka, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi, Naruto had watched his actions. He did his best not to play one prank on any of them. Of course he'd keep his personality, but he would never ever try and do something similar to the acts he did before. Such as stealing, defacing sentimental things, and being cold to anyone who'd scold him. Oh, he matured alright. Just not enough to let everyone know, thank goodness. Hokage was his main goal in life, but along with it came the desire for acknowledgment from everyone else. To gain that recognition, he had to watch his mouth ... when he could.

The ramen was finished and Naruto was left to sit on his bed, read over scrolls, look at the window, and hold a look that would imply that he was devoid of emotions. Life had changed dramatically when he became a genin. He made new friends. He learned new things about life. He became stronger. Why couldn't he combine his accomplishments and somehow celebrate all he gained on this night? Why couldn't he have just yelled out "WAIT!" to his teammates and give them their gifts? They could have accepted, and he could have spent the holiday at someone else's home rather than his- alone.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me, kyuubi-_chan_" Naruto said while patting his stomach with a fake grin.

Ah, the Kyuubi. At times Naruto thought that he really wasn't strong, that Kyuubi was what he lived on. His stamina, his strength, and maybe his entire being was really the Kyuubi afterall.

"No, that can't be right," Naruto thought to myself. I am real. I'm Naruto, and this stupid fox is what holds me back from my real power! Yeah, that's right, he thought to himself over and over. His feelings were real, weren't they? Not even that fox could understand the anxieties of a growing boy that was hated by everyone around him. Not many people understood Naruto. No one in his team would understand. No on in the whole entire village would understand his pain. No one at all. Well, maybe Gaara would, but that's not the main point of this paragraph.

The stupid snow was still at it, and Naruto finished his ramen with one last slurp. Time was ticking, and it was still 9:24pm on his alarm clock. He needed to get out and do something. _Anything_ to get rid of this feeling of loneliness. Sakura-chan wouldn't let him come over, would she? Sasuke could rot in hell. Kakashi sensei ... where did he live anyway? And Iruka, what was he doing at this time of night? Was Hokage drinking her sorrows too? It was now 9:26 and Naruto was starting to go insane. What could he do? He had trained all day, looked at the Hokage monument, and ate ramen. Just what was there left to do?

He fixed his bed.

He washed the dishes.

He cleaned his room.

And took out the trash.

It was 10:52pm on his alarm clock.

Now what the hell could he do now?

"Damn it!" Naruto said while scrubbing the floor with wax. "There's nothing to do! And I hate cleaning!"

He was right. There really wasn't anything to do anymore. Everything was clean. Not a single spec of dust was on the newly waxed floor. His bed sheets were washed and over his bed. He had no more instant ramen left, and he refused to take out the kind that actually required a pot and a stove to cook ramen. He let his eyes wonder to every corner of the apartment, seeing if there was anything left to keep him busy for the rest of the night. One corner had a crack. Another corner was missing paint. That other corner had the presents and cards.

The damn gifts were still there.

At this point, Naruto stared at the gifts. Should he? It was freezing outside, and he might make everyone's night worse with his presence near by. But, but, he thought, that would be a waste of money! I should give it to them tomorrow! Yeah, yeah! Tomorrow! I could catch a cold tonight if I went out! And with that, he decided that he would go out and give the gifts tomorrow. It'd be easier to go out in the day, and it wouldn't be that cold. With that, he gave an affirmative huff and rushed to bed in his pajamas. The sooner he went to sleep, the sooner he'd wake up and give the gifts to them.

Yeah. Tomorrow.

Or maybe the next mission. Wait, he got presents for everybody, and he wanted to give it out at the same time. So maybe tonight would be good. There was a good chance that everyone was at the same party. It wouldn't be that cold out tonight, right?

"Argh! I hate holidays!" Naruto said loudly, while turning to his side. He stared at the bare, cracked wall. Maybe if he just transformed into Santa Claus and somehow gave everyone their gifts, he would be at ease. Or maybe he should just wait till the next chuunin exam. Everyone would be there at least. Looking at the direction at which the crack went, his eyes rolled to every corner of the room.

His eyes rolled to the corner with the gifts.

It took all of Naruto's will power not to simply throw twenty kunais at that corner. He huffed again and turned to his side. He saw the window this time. It was still snowing. It was still night. It was now 11:20, and he was now brooding.

"They ... they wouldn't accept it anyway," Naruto quietly said to himself, and snuggled even more with his thin blanket. "At least I did something tonight. The apartment looks and smells clean for once..." He continued to try and console himself with helpless prattle and ended up at the verge of tears.

"NO!" Naruto yelled, instantly getting up. "I'm sick of crying! I'm sick of everything! Being Hokage is more important to me than these stupid gifts!" And with that he stomped over to the wicked corner and was about to rasengan it to the pit of hell. Before he could gather up his chakra, he looked once more tot the window and sighed.

"You bastards cause too much grief," he said, pointing to the pile of wrapped up gifts and cards. He soon ended up with his back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. "This is too hard for me ... how pathetic I am," he chuckled to himself. "Maybe I could just fall asleep here and when I wake up I could see the presents and suddenly leave in a rush to give them all out and then everything would be oka-

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The door?

Tap. Tap. Ta-

He bolted.

"HINATA-CHAN!?" Naruto said in shock, already at the door.

"Na..na..naruto-kun!" Hinata gasped with a face as red as rose for Naruto had banged the door opened and startled her.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, with a stunned expression. Of all the people he knew in the village, Hinata was the last person he expected to see at this door at this time of night. Was she possibly here to see him? He suddenly saw the brightly wrapped gift behind her back.

"P-please accept this gift, Na-Naruto-kun," she said with her head bowed down. She extended her arms in front of her and the was now gift between her palms, infront of a thunderstruck Naruto.

"Are you.. serious?" Naruto asked the trembling girl.

TBC?

**A/N:** Well of COURSE it'll be continued. I feel that putting Hinata there at that time was a mistake. But, oh well. I'll wing my way out of it. I know I'm late with this fic, but at least I didn't post it up in September, eh? Again, Happy Holidays. I don't know what to say except the fact that this is terrible thing I came up with. :x


End file.
